Eat More Dirt

Hope you don't mind the post title, but that is the name of a great new book on organic gardening that I'm reading right now.  "Eat More Dirt: Diverting and Instructive Tips for Tending an Organic Garden" is an entertaining resource with great tips and you sure can't beat the title! :)

This past week we were thrilled to have the garden filled with volunteers and they made short work of a field full of weeds.  (The composted area had lay unplanted as we worked on other areas of the garden but quickly seeded itself with life, as good soil will).  We later learned that the particular weed, "lamb's quarters" are actually a nutritious foraged edible that you can purchase by the pound at some health food stores!  (We'll be sure to collect some to try next time we weed!). 

Thanks again to the folks at www.digmyearth.com for the donations of free or discounted compost and the wonderful ladies from the YWCA and our two local girl scout troups.  We appreciate you all so much! Our loaner truck is filled to the brim and ready to be used today when we head out to the garden to plant peas and work on some weeding with our volunteers.

Here are some pictures from last week:

Worms love good dirt

Our wonderful volunteers

Before the weeding (we could have called it harvesting, really) ;)


The field, after everyone's hard work, ready to plant!

Community

Exciting news!  We'll be partnering with two local Girl Scout troups and the YWCA, who will be helping out in the garden next Saturday (5/15).  We have so many things we'd like to share in the garden and this will be a wonderful opportunity to start reaching out to the wider Harrisburg community.  We've seen that composting has continued to be one of the most important things we've been spending time and energy on, so we'll continue weeding, adding more compost and getting plants in the ground this weekend with our helpers.  Thanks go out to the folks at www.digmyearth.com for discounted compost for the garden!   We are also in need of some more plants including broccoli, cauliflower, kale, fennel and herbs, so any donations are welcome.

Projected 40 mile an hour winds kept us out of the garden on Saturday, so we used the time to come together to do some more garden planning.  Children's garden coordinator Karen Hunsburger shared a lovely description of the vision/mission for our garden, which you can now check out by clicking on the Mission tab near the top of the blog under the picture header.   It's a wonderful reminder of the purpose of the garden, which we hope will serve as a great opportunity to help improve the lives of children and their families in our area.  That's a gift to all of us!

Here are some pictures from this week:

Progress on the flower pattern (1/3 of the garden)

We're planning to mulch the paths with cocoa beans or other materials

We're still waiting for the green in our garden, 

so here are some pictures of some of the lovely plants 

and plant life seen during our planning meeting to add some color. ;)

Have a great week!

~Marykaye